Our 2026 gaming performance benchmark tested 10 antivirus products on identical systems. BullGuard Game Booster showed no measurable FPS impact and improved 1% low FPS by 12%. Webroot SecureAnywhere and ESET NOD32 showed negligible impact. Windows Defender had 0.4% impact. Most commercial suites showed 1-3% FPS impact when game mode disabled. Some budget antivirus showed 5-12% FPS degradation during active scans — catastrophic for competitive gaming. Our detailed per-product charts show exactly which products you can run during competitive gaming without performance penalty.